Soldiers Are Heroes Too
by CeledeenKT
Summary: Takes place during the events of Ocarina of Time. A soldier from the castle escapes to Kakariko after Ganondorf's take over. He tries to make the darkest of times peaceful for Hyrule, having no hope in the legend of the Hero of Time who is destined to save them all.
1. Chapter 1: Coup D'etat

**Okay... So... Haaa, I haven't written a fanfic to be posted online in**_** years. **_**I just finished high school, I just turned 18, my friends haven't left for college yet... And I was a lot more immature and a much worse writer back then. Which is why the original first chapter of this has been removed and re-written. Details are important to set the mood. So, before you read this, quick notes.**

**This story is only going to be **_**a few chapters long**_**. Detailing the life of a guard, starting the night Ganondorf took over and ending later in the future when Link starts getting stuff done.  
~Celedeen**

**Chapter 1: Coup D'etat**

Hyrule Castle loomed over the town that lay at its feet. It showed power and strength, and its beauty made it a sight to behold. Hyrule was respectively peaceful. The king and his daughter lived protectively in the castle with guards at every end, protecting those that in the end, protect everyone else. The time when the sun shined bright, Hyrule Castle Town was a bustling town. People danced in the streets and dogs ran loose, happily and freely.

Which is why this was so unbelievable.

The sun rose and lit up the ground that had been blessed to us and provided the people with warmth. People gathered around town, talking and gossiping around the fountain like every day. Some played music and burst out dancing while children played with dogs or jacks to pass the time. Everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves, as if nothing could go wrong.

And though no one saw it coming, it was because they were ignorant of the princess who believed her dreams, her _nightmares_, were more then they seemed. Some guards at the castle have overheard and the talk spread. Most of the guards knew that she was seeing what she had called _visions, _fearing that their close ally, the king of Gerudo, was not to be trusted. Only her keeper, a Sheikah named Impa, had believed her. She believed this 'vision' of hers and stood up for the princess every time she heard a guard talking.

So when cries of panic and fire grew from the castle, there was one thing on everyone's mind.

_Was the princess right?  
_

It was too late for that now. Whether or not Ganondorf of the Gerudo had betrayed them was an after thought. The first thing on everyone's mind was to see what was going on and resolve the issue.

Of course, the princess' dream never mentioned skeleton monsters that came out of the castle. How did they get in the castle, behind the line of guards? And who brought them there? Was it truly the Gerudo? How did they have control of such beasts?

The guards knew Impa would protect the princess at all costs. That was her job, that's what was important to her.

To the guards? We had to protect Hyrule and follow the king's wishes, _even after his death._

The guards on the outer side of the town helped evacuate, not exactly sure what was going on. The closer you got to the castle, the more fighting you saw. Guards and Skeletal monsters clashed around the screams and roaring fire. _How were these creatures armed with weapons? _Despite the best efforts from the most skilled knights, the monsters seem to reform and gather up their bones. Piecing themselves together, they'd stand, armed and ready, and start fighting again.

It was our jobs as guards to do our best to keep everyone safe. So adrenaline pumped harder than ever whenever one of us saw civilians under attack or trying to escape from the heat of flames. I saw guards break away from fighting to help them escape, which the skeleton monsters took as an advantage. It was sickening to see how many bodies littered the ground, but most of us were too distracted to notice.

I swung my sword, fighting with everything I had. The helmet caused it near impossible to wipe sweat from my eyes. Especially during battle, unless I enjoyed not living. I landed a few more hits before I smashed my blade into the monster's ribcage and it crumbled into a pile for the third time. I lifted my helmet and wiped the sweat away, noticing the fire had spread more to this part of town. I kicked at the bones, scattering them which meant a moment for me to get away before it gathered again. My boot hit it's armor and my foot cried out in pain, which I hadn't noticed since my whole body ached for me to stop. It was then I heard a sound pierce through the night and looked for the source.

I saw a child, crying in the streets near a pile of rubble and a bit of fire. The stone building must have had wooden supports, causing it to collapse. The tell tale signs of dust means it was recent, I was too distracted on not getting myself killed to notice. Jumping over the pile of bones, I dashed to the child as fast as I could. Coated in sweat all over again from fires raging nearby, I wiped it off where I could, placing my helmet on my head. I ran to the crying child, knowing their safety was important.

_If the king were still with us, he'd want me to do this. To save the life of this child._

I ran up and kneeled down, out of breath. I quickly checked him over. He could be worse, a few burns and cuts. The worse seemed to be his ankle, which looks like he just wedged out from under a big boulder. "Don't worry, you're fine." I tried to pick up the small boy, but he refused to move.

"M-my mom... And d-dad..." Tears ran down his face as he stared at the rubble. My stomach sank as what I had hoped proved to be false. This kid was all alone, but that didn't matter. I scooped him up into my arms and stood, realizing that I had less energy than I thought. "N-NO! PUT ME DOWN!" He wriggled, trying to get free.

"LISTEN! This is no time to kid around! If you want to prove anything to anyone right now, prove you can be a man! Sitting here and crying is only going to get you hurt!" The boy seemed to realize that it wasn't the right time to disagree with me, but he still didn't seem to like my plan. I didn't care and turned to get this child safely headed for Kakariko.

I turned around, heading south down the torn street to where I knew the gate was, only then to become face-to-face with the skeleton I was battling before. With the child in my hands, I could not fight, and he didn't seem to want to let us go. But I wasn't going to give up! As a soldier of Hyrule castle, it was my job to protect the citizens, but the kid was in no condition to run on his own.

That's when it happened. Another soldier ran up and swung at the skeleton. Sword hit shield and they swung at each other and were drawn into a stalemate. Then I realized the soldier was my captain.

"CAPTAIN!"

"Go!" He yelled. He kept in the stalemate as long as he could. "Quickly! I can't hold him off like this for long!"

"Y-yes sir!" I turned and ran, ducking under partially fallen debris and broken buildings, the crying boy still in my arms. As I was running, I heard the piercing scream of my captain. I winced and stumbled over rocks but regained my balance and kept running. "Thank you, sir."

For the first time that day, I got lucky. I woke up late, and was assigned with another guard I didn't like that much. Small, pointless details at this point that didn't measure up to what followed, but I finally gotten lucky when it mattered. There were no more monsters on the way to the gate entrance. It seems they were more interested in the castle than the town. That was good, more people could have ran to safety without being stopped.

I kneeled down, nearly collapsing, and let the kid out of my arms carefully. He hopped out and stood, leaning on his good leg. "Go." I said, catching my breath. "To the... On your left..." I was trying to quickly think of the fastest and easiest directions to Kakariko. "Follow the river... Go to the bridge..." My thoughts were jumbled and my vision wasn't the clearest... I hadn't realized how exhausted I had been until that point. "A bridge... Cross it... Up the mountain... just a bit...Ka...Kakariko Village... You'll be safe..."

I stopped talking to catch my breath. I had ran far, carrying a child, running as fast as I could and with no energy and armor on after fighting for... a few hours at least. The sun was up when all this started and it was currently sunset, no one was stationed to raise the bridge anymore. I held a hand to my heart and could swear I could feel it through my armor with how fast and hard it was beating.

I looked up and found the small boy had stopped crying, but hadn't left yet. "Go! Now, before it gets dark!" My panting had slowed a bit but my voice still showed I was exhausted. My headache grew and I motioned to stand only to find I had hardly moved.

"Come with me." The boy said. To save my breath, I shook my head no. "Please! What if I get lost?"

"I gave you directions! You'll be fine!" The boy still stood there as I finally got up and stood. It took energy but after I was standing, I knew I could move. "Like I said, be a man!" I took a deep breath and pulled out my sword again. "Go! You'll be safe there!" I turned and looked back at the burning town that was presented before me.

"You'll die! Please! Come with me!" The child grabbed my arm and pulled, trying to drag me with him. In an instant, I winced and grabbed my arm. The boy reached up and touched it, instantly pulling back. "See! You're bleeding!"

I looked at my arm, pulling my hand away to try and see the damage. It was a fairly deep wound, but I hadn't noticed until that moment. I winced, my mind finally able to recognize it and register the pain. Did I get it in battle? Or while I was running? Adrenaline was pumping through me, I hadn't even felt it til now. It was the only part of my arm exposed from armor to allow me to move. I would have to get it looked at to be able to tell what caused it. I looked back down at the kid and shook my head. "No, now go on already!"

"PLEASE!" He said, sniffling. He grabbed my arm again, and I realized how small he was, to only reach up just passed my hip.

"NO!" I pulled my arm away from him and took a few steps away. I raised my sword towards the field outside of the town gate. "GO! Now!" I spun around and took a few steps toward the town, and only then did I realized I had a slight limp. I had to have looked pathetic as I reached toward my arm.

"Please..." I heard the kid, probably crying again and in a pleading voice. "Please..." I turned and looked at the kid. I could go back and fight til I die with honor, or I could take this child to Kakariko. "If you don't, I'll just follow you til you do!"

This child was foolish. Utterly foolish and stubborn, if he wished to follow a guard that was walking towards certain death, but what did he have to lose at this point? I couldn't risk him getting hurt, he lost everyone tonight. I had been the only one he knew, even if I hadn't really done anything, he was alone. I sighed in defeat and turned, heading out the gate and to Kakariko. I sheathed my sword and waved my gloved hand.

"Come on." I said, not turning around. "We have to make it... Before sundown..." The child followed me, to my side and slightly trailing. All I could think of is where those skeleton monsters came from and if the princess was alright. It was already certain that everyone in the castle was dead. _Including the king...  
_

My limp had only gotten worse as I walked, and the kid had grabbed my hand in some effort to help me to keep going. I only panted and grabbed my arm to stop the bleeding. As the adrenaline wore off, the pain sunk in and I knew I wouldn't last. Not long after we left, we heard a horse running along the field, if only briefly. It had gotten too dark to see details, but you could just make it out, retreating from the town. All I could do was hopefully wish Impa had just escaped with the princess.

The sound of another horse quickly followed and I felt my heart drop. _How hopeful could I be at this point?_


	2. Chapter 2: The Day the Sun Didn't Rise

**No long author insert. Just a thanks to FoxWolfJackson for being my beta and check him out if you want. ~Celedeen**

**Chapter 2: The Day the Sun Didn't Rise**

When you just wake up, you notice noises and feelings and smells first. Then you wake up completely, all your senses start kicking in as you look around and realize what time in the morning it is.

This did not happen to me.

The first thing I noticed was nothing but pain. I inhaled sharply and noticed the act only made my lungs ache angrily. Unsure if I had gotten a wound on my stomach, I tried to lift my arm to check. Which distracted me from my stomach as my arms then told me that they also had been injured. I relaxed and let the pain settle before I hurt something else trying to move.

The next thing I noticed was the slight sting and burn of random wounds I had. I felt that the deep cut on my right arm I had noticed before didn't hurt as much and burned with warmth more than my other wounds. At that moment, I had realized two more things.

The first was that the warm yet slightly burning sensation I felt was most likely my wounds healing from a potion I must have taken while unconcious. The slight sour taste in my mouth seemed to prove my theory.

The second thing I had realized was that I didn't remember ever falling asleep. Which meant I didn't know where I was.

The potion meant whom ever it was wanted me alive. And the fact I was warm almost certainly meant I was in a bed and not outside in the cold or in a stone dungeon of the castle. That left only one sense left to check to see where I was. But when I opened my eyes, I was met by the darkness. My eyes quickly adjusted and I recognized I was in a bedroom in a building I wasn't familiar with. It was most likely the middle of the night, but I don't know if I slept for a few hours or for even a few days.

My eyes landed on a window and I had recognized a slight orange glow that I had recognized meant fire. Was the town, or where ever I had ended up, on fire? It took me a good couple of minutes for my mind to kick start, so it had to have been going for at least five minutes. But the smell of wood wasn't too strong and there were no screams.

So, I was in an unfamiliar place, it seemed to be night, I was injured, but whoever had me wanted me alive. On top of that, I wasn't sure how injured I was, what happened at the castle, or what happened to that kid.

_...That kid..._

In all my life, I never thought I'd have to stop and think about how a kid undoubtedly had saved me from getting myself killed.

Just think, a kid was being stubborn enough to make me retreat as to assure his safety. I was injured more than I thought, and I'm completely sure that if I had stayed, I would have been killed, and the kid would have as well.

I tried replaying the night's events in my mind, hoping to come to some conclusion of hope, or possibly have a hint of an idea of where I was. The only memories that resurfaced where the images of those skeletal monsters and the burning city in ruins. All I had been told from soldiers retreating from the castle to protect the town was that Ganondorf of the Gerudo was behind it. For a soldier, that's all the orders I needed to take action, but morale dropped once screams echoed of the King's untimely death. We heard nothing of the princess and I hope she was able to get away.

Something clicked... The princess escaping, I remember thinking that when I heard those horses running across the field. I was with the kid and we were heading to Kakariko together. That was the last thing I remember. Was I in Kakariko? I most likely passed out before getting here. Damn, I didn't leave that kid defenseless at night with me unconscious, did I?

"You're awake, good!" I jumped at the sudden voice and immediately regretted it at every part of me started to ache again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You've been asleep for about a day." I could recognize the voice as a female, and soon a shadow was standing before me. "What do you remember?"

I took a deep breath and licked my lips, I could feel my mouth was dry. I was cautious, but from the conclusions I made before, I saw no problem in telling the truth, as long as I was vague about it. "I was heading to Kakariko." It was obvious my voice was rough and that I just woke up, despite being awake for around ten minutes.

The woman leaned in and I could tell she was young, but unrecognizable. I had been stationed to guard the path to Death Mountain a few times and knew some of the villagers. Were could I be?

"We found you near the stairs leading up to here with a small boy. Do you remember that?" Stairs? Good, this was Kakariko...

I blinked and started thinking, but I nothing stuck out. I remember crossing the bridge, but we were still a bit away from the town. "I remember the kid, but I thought I blacked out before getting here. Is the kid-..." I couldn't find the courage to ask, hoping he was okay.

"He's fine. A little frazzled and hasn't spoken, but he's fine. You both made it to Kakariko in one piece." She held up a half empty bottle of some red liquid. "I'm assuming by your armor that you were a guard. So I'm assuming you know what this is. It's been a few hours, you need another dose."

She uncorked the bottle and leaned in. I didn't try to attempt to move again, which seemed to be no problem as she slowly poured some in my mouth. After a few minutes of me slowly trying not to make a mess of myself since I couldn't even sit up, the majority of it was done and I was feeling better already. A lot of the smaller wounds burned more, but faded as I could tell they were healing.

"So, you could tell I was a guard?" I was trying to make small talk to get more information.

"Yes, normal people don't usually wear armor. Or, I'm assuming it was armor. I didn't see you with it on, I only saw what was left of it in a pile." She placed the bottle on a table near the bed. "I think at the end, it was keeping you from falling apart more than it was from protecting you. You were one of the badly injured ones."

"One of? More guards came here?"

"Well, a lot of citizens were hurt too. I actually only got here a few hours before you did. I lived near the entrance and was one of the first people here." She sighed. "Lucky break for me, huh? Rumors are flying around everywhere as we're trying to figure out what happened. There are a few guards who came back. One of them was from the castle and he told us everything. We're not sure how much is true, though."

"So, you know? I only heard shouts and orders, all I know is who is behind it."

"Ganondorf, right? He had an army of what the guard said is called 'Stalfos'. The skeleton creatures."

"The rumors were true then."

I moved my arms a little bit and found my left one felt a lot better as the potion did a good job. I put my hand on my stomach and assessed my wounds. My stomach seemed ok, so I tried pushing myself up into a seating position. My left leg still burned because of the potion so I assumed it was injured badly, and I do remember having a limp. I looked at my right arm and noticed it was completely mummified by bandages.

I looked up at the young woman who seemed rushed over to me in worry when I started to move. "I have a question. What happened to that guard from the castle? Is he still among the living?"

She sighed when she saw I was alright and nodded. "He was injured, but not too badly. He's already up and was walking a few hours ago. Another dose of potion and by morning, you might be too, depending on your leg. That and your arm were your worst wounds."

I stared at the wall, thinking about what had happened. I had so many questions but I could feel I was exhausted and sleep would creep up on my again. "The kid, where is he now?"

"Asleep in the next room over. He was sitting in here all day. Do you know him?" She then realized what she said and slapped her forehead. "Wait, then you wouldn't be referring to him as 'kid', would you? Silly me."

"No, I don't. I... found him and he refused to come here without my aide."

She sighed and looked at the wall I assumed was the bed the kid was sleeping in. "Poor kid." She turned back to me. "I have others I should go check on. I'll bring up a glass of water for you. You should get some more rest."

I nodded and slowly laid myself back down. She turned and walked out of the room and I heard her quickly run down a flight of stairs.

Before she brought the water to my room, I was already asleep.

I flinched as I could tell the sun was shining brightly onto my face, awaking me from my dreamless sleep. I opened my eyes carefully and grimaced, turning my head. I brought my hand to my face and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It wasn't until I tried using my other arm to push me into a seating position did everything come rushing back. My arm hurt, though less than last night, which I was grateful for. Potion sped up the healing process nicely and without it, my arm would have been aching for weeks.

Using my other arm, I sat up and looked around, adjusting to the light. I saw a chair next to the bed and the empty potion glass bottle was gone. I looked out the window and saw it was near midday. I sighed, trying not to assume too much of what was going on. When I woke up, I was able to figure out where I was, but I shouldn't have assumed anything.

I leaned back against the wall and just let my mind swarm while thinking about nothing. It was a pleasant change of pace to hear people working and talking, and I just started imagining if none of this had happened.

I sat in that peacefully and blissfully ignorant state for a good ten minutes before the door opened. Looking over at it, I saw that kid from before, and he was staring at me as if I had no head. He was like that for a few seconds before quickly slamming the door shut and stampeding down the stairs. I chuckled, having no idea why it was so amusing to me. It wasn't long before I heard more footsteps and the door opened again. It looked like the woman from last night, and she had a tray of food along with some more potion on it, from what I could tell.

"Good afternoon. We just made lunch, you have good timing." She walked over and put the tray on my lap. "I'm afraid that we don't have enough potion for a full dose at this point, so I'm afraid you'll be recovering more naturally from this point on."

"That's fine. I'm feeling better than last night, thank you." The first thing I did was grab the bottle and use my teeth to rip off the cork. I downed the stuff as quick as I could. I always disliked the taste, and I could get it out of my mouth by eating.

"By the way, I'm Sarah. Sorry I didn't tell you last night. I was exhausted and it escaped my mind."

"Don't worry about it, I forgot to introduce myself as well. I'm Joseph. But Joe is fine." I looked down at my lunch and wasn't surprised that it was soup or some sort of stew. It was an easy meal that could serve many, but I was so hungry, I didn't care at all.

"Well, Joe, once you're done, I'll show you to the bathrooms and I'll change your bandages if you'd like. I've gotten good over the last two days." She smiled and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a minute with a towel and a change of clothes you can wear."

I had finished my lunch before she even returned, to which she chuckled at and waved off. I was happy that despite the situation we were all in, she could still smile and lighten up a moment. She walked over and took off my bandage on my arm, sighing. "Looks like we didn't have enough to heal it. I'll try to rummage up a sling for you. Can you carefully swing your legs off the bed?"

It took a minute, but I was able to do what I was told. She lifted my shirt and quickly took off bandages there and smiled. Then, she checked my legs which wasn't bad and I had to thank myself for deciding to wear shorts under the guards uniform that day. Now I just have to ignore a strange woman I don't know staring me down.

"On dear... Your leg looks bad, you're going to need a crutch." She stood up and looked at me with a frown. "I'm not a professional, so I'll try to have someone who is look at it. It doesn't look good."

"Walking and running on it so much probably didn't help my situation at all." I rubbed my knee to soothe the slight throbbing coming from it. I was thankful it wasn't my right leg, that would have been a problem with an injured right arm.

She ran out and came back with a crutch, saying she'll try to find a sling by the time I had bathed. After I stood up, we turned towards the door and saw the kid peeking in. After being caught, he ducked away and hid. I smiled, knowing he was still there.

"Hey, kid. What are you hiding for?" It took a moment, but the kid peeked back into the room. "Well? You gonna stand there or are you going to tell me your name?"

The kid didn't move for a minute, not that I actually expected an answer. But he slowly walked in and stood in the door way, looking scared like I was going to yell at him. It was the first time I got a good look at him, he only looked about eight or nine. He didn't have many visible bandages except for a few cuts and his leg seemed okay, to my relief. A dose of potion was probably given to him as well if it's healed already. It wasn't injured that badly. "M-my name is Dan." He said in a quiet voice. I could just barely hear him.

"Stand up tall, and say it loudly. What's your name?"

"My name is Dan!" I smiled as the kid probably felt like he was yelling, but it was just over average volume.

"Well, Dan, I'm Joe. You undoubtedly heard, but I'm the guard you forced to leave so you wouldn't die." With that, the kid flinched and Sarah looked at me, shocked. "And for making me leave my post and come here against my will..." I leaned on Sarah and she held me up. I removed my arm from my crutch and stood straight, saluting. "I thank you. I would have died in the line of duty, but I can keep helping and do much more after I recover."

After a moment of shock, Sarah started laughing and I grabbed my crutch and leaned off of her to balance myself. The kid, Dan, stood there for a moment, staring at me once again as if I was some strange creature he had never seen. "Well, a bath sounds amazing right now. Do you mind, Sarah?"

She shook her head and we slowly made it to the door way. Dan stood out of the way and watched as we carefully went by, still staring in shock all the while. And I just kept smiling.

"I wasn't quite sure what you were going to do at first." Sarah spoke up after we reached a far enough distance from Dan.

I chuckled quietly, still picturing their reactions in my head. "I'm not a people person." Sarah reached out and opened a door next to her, which revealed a bathroom. I turned to face it, hopping on my good leg. I saw someone had already had a bath prepared. "I got it from here, thanks."

She nodded and slowly let go, making sure I could stand on my own. "I'll go get some spare clothes for you, I'll be back as soon as I can." And she turned around and walked off.

The bath was just what I needed. I cleaned my wounds and got a good look at then for the first time. They weren't bad at all, but that was also two days of sleeping and potion doses that sped up my healing process. My leg looked terrible, and I knew why Sarah had the reaction she did. It was swollen and I could feel it pulsating, but it didn't look infected. The area around it looked like it was probably bruised, but that seemed to heal up pretty well. I don't know much about injuries, but I knew the possibility of amputation was there. I knew worrying wouldn't help, so I just cleaned myself up and dried myself off. There was a makeshift curtain blocking view from the bath, but I heard someone come in earlier, which would explain the new change of clothes. I tried fixing my bandages myself. I did a half decent job and got dressed, and found a sling on top of my crutch. I leaned against the wall and carefully put it on. Then I heard a loud bang and jumped.

I grabbed my crutch and opened the door. As soon as I did, it was pushed a little as someone rushed by in a hurry. I peeked out and opened it a little again to see Sarah and a couple other people I didn't know rushing around. In the crowd, Dan somehow weaved his way through to get to me, and looked worried.

"Dan? Dan, what's wrong?" I wanted to kneel down to him but I knew I couldn't without risk of injuring myself.

"It's George!" I wasn't sure who George was, and I must have looked confused, because Dan took a deep breath. "George was a guard at the outer part of the castle and he was really really hurt and he hasn't woken up yet and then there was this loud noise and-"

"DAN! Calm down! Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

Dan started panting, not quite calm enough to talk to me normally. "George was really hurt and now everyone is running around trying to get stuff into his room! Is he gonna be okay?"

I looked up and saw people squeezing by to get into a room across from mine. I wondered if this was an inn they turned into a hospital for the injured before I saw someone out of place. They just walked out of George's room but didn't see in a hurry. Everyone rushed around them as they stopped in the middle of the hall. And in a few seconds, everything became quiet and still. The person, now noticeably a woman, sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"Hey, mister Joe, what's going on? Is George okay?" I looked down at Dan and back up to this person, before people started filing out of George's room, no longer in a hurry. "Mister Joe?"

"It's just Joe, Dan. And I think George is going to be just fine now." I hobbled back to my room and Dan opened the door for me. I thanked him and asked him if he wanted to come in. I followed after him and turned to close the door.

I saw them pulling a sheet over what I assumed was the man named George.

Sarah had come back to change my bandages for me. She was much better at it then I was, and faster too. She had a smile you could tell was forced on her face. Dan sat in the chair next to the bed, looking at the sheets. He wasn't a stupid kid, I'm sure he figured out what happened before.

Sarah started gathering her things before she stopped and looked at me. "The doctor will be by tomorrow to look at you. I think if you're extra careful and have someone with you, you can go outside. There's a list of people who were found outside in town square. Everyone else has gotten a look, so it shouldn't be hard for you to get to it."

"I can do it!" Dan said suddenly, standing from the chair. "I can walk around with him! I'm not that hurt! I can do it!"

Sarah genuinely smiled for a moment before nodding her head. "Okay, Dan. What ever Joseph asks for, you do your best to get it for him, okay?"

I didn't bother correcting her to call me Joe because I knew she wasn't quite up to it right now. She walked out and Dan ran to get me my crutch. I was already sitting on the side of the bed, so I fixed my pant leg to hide my exposed bandage and thanked Dan as I took my crutch. I stood up and walked out. Dan knew where he was going, obviously having looked around. He took me to the stairs and I slowly made my way down. It took a couple of minutes, and I considered asking to have my room moved to the ground floor.

I looked around and saw that my thought was right, we were inside an inn. Dan walked in front of me to the front door, making sure no one was in my way. I probably looked terrible and weak, but I didn't care about that. I wanted to see that list, to see if anyone I knew had made it out alright. So as soon as we walked out, I looked around and asked Dan if he knew were the list was. He frowned and nodded, taking me to a post not far from the front of the inn, which I was thankful for. It was visible from the door entrance and there was a clear path to it, but the rest of the town seemed flooded with people, obviously caused by the new flood of residents.

The list was long, and surrounded by notes other people put up. Pages of drawings and descriptions of missing people surrounded the list. But the list wasn't completely covered, so I started skimming it, looking for names I knew. I reached my hand up to move some papers to see some that were covered up.

Some names did pop out at me. A guard I knew, a neighbor down the street, a friend of my parents, but I didn't know many of them well. I looked for specific names and came up short. My parents, my close friends, the woman I was seeing and thinking about marrying... None of their names were on this list. They weren't found.

"And you are?" I jumped and turned to my right to see a man standing there, a pen in his hand. "Is your name on the list?"

I looked back and skimmed for my name, but found it missing as well. The scribbles of other people's handwriting written neatly as possible showed that they probably all wrote their own names. I looked back to the man, who was probably about my age, but much scrawnier than I was, and shook my head.

"Ahh, would you like me to write it for you?" I took a step out of the way and he rose his hand that was holding the pen in his hand. "What is your name?"

"I'm-" and my voice caught in my throat. Everyone who would know me close enough to know my full name wasn't on the list. "Can you write 'Joe from squad fifty three' down? That's what people know me most as."

The man gave a sad smile and nodded, then wrote down what I had said slowly and neatly as possible. Once he was done, he looked down at Dan. "And what about you? Is your name on the list?"

Dan looked up and then nodded. "Sarah wrote my name down before." The man obviously had no idea who Sarah was, but just nodded.

"My name is John, by the way." The man said. "You were a guard, then?" He said, speaking to me.

"Yeah, I came across Dan hurt, so I brought him here where I thought it would be safe." John nodded, something finally clicked in his head. "What did you do, John?"

John stood up a little straighter and smiled, like he was proud of what he was about to say. "You know in the center of town at the market place, how there was always music playing that left a happy atmosphere? I was in charge of that. I did it one day and people asked me to keep doing it."

"That was you?" Dan said, looking up at John, knowing what he was talking about.

I smiled and chuckled. "Ahh, I wondered who was crazy enough to do that when I was on patrol. I knew it had to be some loon." John just shrugged, still smiling.

"Well, the only person who didn't like it was the clock maker. He said I made too much noise for him to work. I told him there was no reason for him to be so wound up." I laughed at the terrible joke and leaned onto my crutch, shaking my head. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Glad to see yet another guard made it out okay besides Geoff."

"Whose Geoff?" I raked my brain for a guard with that name but none came up.

"He's the guard who worked in the castle." Dan said, speaking up. "He made it out hardly hurt, but no one likes him. I don't get it. He seems nice enough. You have any ideas?"

"Because he's probably a deserter." John said. He looked down at Dan with a serious face. "Deserters are people who leave for their own safety. Joe here left to keep you safe. Geoff left to keep himself safe." He looked up at me. "There was no other possible way he could have made it out from inside the castle almost completely uninjured if he wasn't. He's on the West side of town where the other guards gather to pass around information. You can head over there if you're feeling up to it."

"Thank you, John."

"No problem." John smiled and waved good-bye to Dan and I and headed off into the crowded town.

"So, mister Joe-"

"Just Joe is fine, Dan."

"So, Joe... What do you want to do now?" I looked down at Dan who was looking up at me.

"...Do you know where the West side of town is?"


End file.
